Ten years on, the boys from Byron Bay still have roar power

YOU know a band is heavy when the slow, moody song halfway through the concert is called "Dead Man's Chest" - and the lyrics are delivered in a devilish bellow.

And the drums are being belted so hard the sound waves feel like you're being shot at.

Welcome to Parkway Drive, five surfer dudes from Byron Bay who make more noise than is thought humanly possible, and who have a bigger following than the broader community could ever imagine.

To the outside world and to the untrained ear it may be dismissed as white noise.

But that does not do justice to the precise, crisp punk-rock sound blended with hardcore death metal - neatly dubbed "metalcore".

It's a subculture that the mainstream and the music industry has largely ignored - and yet Parkway Drive's following is massive, as their gig at the Hordern Pavilion on Saturday night proved yet again.

Opening with the first two tracks from their new, fourth album, Atlas (which, you may be surprised to learn, debuted at number three on the charts behind Taylor Swift and Delta Goodrem, despite receiving relatively little airplay) the all-ages crowd was in fine form.

As with their previous album Deep Blue, Atlas starts with ambient music before all hell breaks loose.

When you listen to the album you can imagine the boys walking onto a smokey, dimly-lit stage before getting ready to rock. And that's exactly what they did.

An entire floor of kids aged under 14 to over 40 were jumping so hard it may have caused tectonic shift.

''I don't know how many people are here, but it's a f---ing lot,'' said lead singer Winston McCall, who is always genuinely amazed at - and appreciative of - how many people are into Parkway Drive’s unique style of music.

As it turned out, about 5000 people sweated it out and swung their arms in the Hordern Pavilion, many of them forming their own ''death circles'' at the appropriate times (imagining the start of the City to Surf, but with everyone trying to do a lap around a Hills Hoist).

Contrary to the metal image of beards and beer guts, the Parkway Drive boys are fit and healthy, taking their surfboards on tour whenever possible.

And on this night they were doing their bit to stop the obesity epidemic, getting a bunch of teenagers off the couch and jumping and screaming as if their lives depended on it.

Who needs an energy drink when you have Parkway Drive?

Significantly, there's not only a broad age range in the audience, there is an almost even split of boys and girls.

So much for all teenage girls being into Delta Goodrem and Lady Gaga.

Even the (very young looking) grandmother sitting next to me got into the groove.

Kim had found sanctuary in the seats up the back which, ironically, had the best view and, being directly behind the audio mixer, the best sound.

Sitting next to her was 17-year-old Elise from Picton, who got into Parkway Drive thanks to her older sister.

''I love them,'' she said.

''My sister got me onto them and I've been listening to them ever since. Some of my friends don't understand, but that's OK. I think their taste in music is crap too. Not all of us want to listen to the same music.''

Elise would have been seven-years-old when Parkway Drive formed 10 years ago, when they boldly sent a demo tape to a small heavy-metal music shop in Newtown run by Graham Nixon, who went on to become their manager, their biggest supporter and a driving force behind their international success.

In addition to Parkway Drive's talents on stage (the drummer, Ben Gordon, is one of the best in the business despite being self-taught), and the way they've embraced social media, a large part of the band's success is the simple fact that they love to play in front of crowds.

So much so that in their early years they stopped into small towns and regional centres right across Australia.

And, in return, the fans have repaid them with their loyalty.

For most of the past decade Parkway Drive have spent more time touring in Europe and North America than at home.

Now aged in their late 20s and early 30s, the boys are settling down, travelling a little less - McCall is due to get married next year, the other boys now have girlfriends.

That doesn't stop them from having a blast on stage, though, belting out hits new and old.

At one point, they even let the crowd decide which song to play next.

Parkway Drive have come a long way since they played in high school playgrounds, youth clubs and the indoor basketball courts in Penrith on a Sunday afternoon, where I once saw them play.

Today, they are one of the slickest, most polished live acts around, and yet to the uninitiated it all looks like mayhem.

Here's to another 10 years - and their steadfast refusal to soften their sound for the broader audience.